It doesn’t get much more down-home Americana than a good homemade pie fresh out of the oven. Linda Hundt, national pie-baking champion, owner of Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe, and author of the cookbook “Sweetie-licious Pies: Eat Pie, Love Life,” knows a thing or two about pies. And she’ll share her story at the Berkley Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Hundt grew up on a farm in Lansing surrounded by her mother, grandmother and aunts. Her favorite toy was an Easy Bake Oven.

While honeymooning on Cape Cod in 1985, she and her husband, John, ate at a little pie shop and that planted a seed.

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“And 20 years later, I started my own pie-baking business on my back porch with a freezer and a pie safe,” Hundt said.

She initially baked and sold her pies at farmers markets and high-end restaurants, and in 2005, she opened Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe in DeWitt.

“That connection of the farm-to-table life was what I grew up on,” Hundt said. “I wanted to do that with my life, and later, I realized that I wasn’t just meant to do this for my family and friends, but for the world. That wound up being my gift.”

She tweaked and refined recipes from her mother, grandmother and aunts, along with some she found in the vintage cookbooks she read like novels growing up. She made them hers.

They won her numerous awards, starting with the best display for the Girl Scouts Capital Council in 2006. She went on to win the Food Network’s Amazing Pie Challenge in 2009 as well as the $5,000 Professional Best of Show honor in the network’s National Pie Championships in the same year, and several first and second place awards since then.

There’s something about food that connects people in ways that other things don’t.

“We all share,” Hundt said. “It’s fascinating how food connects people and we realize how much we’re alike. People come into the shop and the pies always remind them of something or someone.”

It’s those connections that Hundt used in writing her cookbook. Recipes are accompanied by personal stories along with a charming 1950s kitsch, a theme that Hundt personifies with a string of pearls and retro dresses and aprons.

“Those little stories reflect how we all touch other people,” she said. “And with our pies, in a teeny way, we’re making memories for other people and making their lives a little richer.”

The task of authoring a cookbook, Hundt said, was monumental.

“It was a tremendous amount of work, and I couldn’t even open it for three days after it was published,” she said.

The work paid off.

“Sweetie-licious Pies: Eat Pie, Love Life” was selected as one of 20 2014 Michigan Notable Books, a program that highlights books that are reflective of the state’s ethnic, historical, literary and cultural experience. That designation puts her on an author tour and helps her to promote her book.

When she’s not baking, Hundt takes on speaking engagements covering the story of her business and achieving her dream of owning a pie shop, as well as the more personal story of how she struggled with depression and how it helped shape who she is today. She’s also available for pie-baking demonstrations.

“I have to share my story,” she said. “People don’t have to own a pie shop but they have to know that wonderful things can happen if we believe in ourselves.”

Hundt opened another Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe in Grand Rapids, and will soon open another there. She plans to expand to the Detroit area in about a year. In the meantime, she’s in talks with Williams-Sonoma to sell her pies nationally through its website. For more information, or to order pies, visit sweetie-licious.com.

“If I didn’t have such a wonderful family and friends who helped me, none of this would ever have happened for me,” she said.

Hundt will visit Berkley Public Library for an evening of story-telling, book signings and a question-and-answer session with the audience. The program is free. Register by calling the library at 248-658-3440 or stop by the adult reference desk. The library is located at 3155 Coolidge Highway in Berkley. For more information, visit berkley.lib.mi.us.